My favorite time of the day...

These days I’ve got a particular part of my day that I look forward to...BEDTIME. No, this isn’t because I love to go to bed and treasure the few zzz’s that I can get, (although, sleep is something we don’t take for granted around here!) but rather it’s our bedtime routine with Isaiah. I miss him all day while I’m at work, and usually when we get home at night we usually have – AT THE MOST – 2 hours with our little boy before we begin our bedtime routine. And sometimes, he’s so tired from watching the other kiddos at Lori’s all day that he takes a short nap at 5:00!

So anyway, what I’m loving lately is our little moments that we get with him at home at night. Usually Shane and I will trade off playing with Isaiah while the other one makes dinner. Then we all have dinner together. Well Isaiah doesn’t eat or sit at the table, but we do pull his bouncer into the dining room and we talk to him all through dinner. Then it’s a little more playtime after dinner and around 7:00pm we start getting ready for bed. Right now we’ve found that this is about the perfect time for Isaiah to start winding down for the day.

We start with a bath. We’ve been giving him a bath every night and so far this hasn’t bothered his skin too much, and it really helps relax him. He can be really fussy and a bath will calm him right down. Recently he has started to splash more in the bath – not sure if he really knows what he is doing, but I just think it’s cute! Ha!

Mommy...look at all the different faces I can make!

Just try to wrap me up...I'll get my legs and arms out!

Usually during our bath, daddy is working hard to get all of Isaiah's formula mixed for the next day, getting his heal prick ready, and getting his medicine ready. What a great daddy!

After bath time I put on his baby lotion and give him a little massage. Daddy jokes with him that boys don’t need lotion, but it never fails that he loves to cuddle with him after his bath, when he’s all fresh and smells like a “baby”.

I get excited after my baths...kicking my legs and swinging my arms!

After all that is over we move on to his heal prick (if it is the day that he needs it), then his thyroid medicine, then finally Isaiah’s favorite part…BOTTLE.

YUMMY!

He eats and then mommy and him rock for just a couple of minutes…sometimes longer than what he actually needs because this is mommy’s favorite part. After we’ve rocked for a few minutes, Isaiah gets laid down no matter if he’s awake or asleep…usually he is asleep though.

In mommy's arms...

...fast asleep

This is usually around 7:30-7:45pm. And for the last week – we haven’t had to pick him back up at all until his night feeding. This is usually anytime between 2:30-4:00am. And he will wake up, have a bottle and usually fall right back asleep. We’ve been so blessed with our little guy. He’s doing wonderfully! Not that I would mind if he wasn’t sleeping this well, but with both Shane and I working it makes it easier on us that we are able to get a little sleep too! Of course we both are still sleep deprived from waking up in the middle of the night to feed him, waking up to pump, waking up early to make up his bottles, waking up early to get ready for work, waking up early to get Isaiah ready to go to Lori’s, pumping again before work, the list just goes on! I’ve been reading the book “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” and this is where I started to understand that Isaiah needed to have an early bedtime. This book was recommended to me by at least 3 different people and so far I’m a fan! Isaiah is definitely happier when he has gotten good sleep! And mommy’s happy to get to spend her evenings with such a special little boy!

Our BIG little guy!

Isaiah had his 2 month checkup this week. He did great with his shots! And our Dr. said he looks great! He weighed in at 12 lbs 7 ounces which puts him in the 75th percentile. Obviously we aren't lying about what a good eater he is! Always finishes his bottles! He is in the 50th percentile for his height, which was 22 3/4 in.

A few pictures from this week...

Isaiah definitely knows when you are walking away from him or towards him. He watches you and knows exactly where you are at!

A little tongue action in the left picture and the picture on the right is what Isaiah does when you give him kisses...opens his mouth up. So cute!

Moving hands in the left picture, seems like he always has those arms flappin! Right picture is obviously mommy and him having fun on a Friday afternoon! :)

2 Months Old

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Isaiah!

Growing up...

Wow! Our little guy is almost 2 months old! As I sat down to write this, I really didn’t think I had much news on Isaiah, but really there are lots of things I want to record and remember and just plain take the time to enjoy. I know these moments of him being a baby are flying by. I feel like in another month I’m going to look back again and wonder…”where did the time go”!? I think it’s something that happens when you become a parent…time just goes faster.

(This is before I lost all my red hair...mom and dad are waiting to see if it stays red when it grows back!)

Isaiah is such a special boy. We’ve been so blessed to have him as our son. There are lots of little things that he does that we celebrate, just because it’s his first time doing it. And I know I’m going to miss all these little wonders when he’s older.

(It's a task to catch my smiles on camera...this is the best mommy could do.)

This month Isaiah has really started smiling. He’s got the cutest big gummy grin ever! He usually gives it to us the best right after he’s been asleep for awhile. So mornings are great with him! He will sometimes give a grin in his sleep, but usually he will only pull it out if you get really excited and talk to him. It’s pretty darn cute! (I sometimes think it would be funny to videotape us talking to him…I bet we sound hilarious, not to mention what we actually talk to him about!)

He’s starting to coo and talk a lot more, but we are still trying to convince him to have conversations with us. He makes all kinds of funny noises in his sleep. This isn’t always easy on mom who wakes up to each and every noise coming from his pack and play.

(This is a better picture of my bald head)

Isaiah has the sweetest look on his face when you are feeding him. His eyes can just melt my heart. I feel like his eyes show so much love when he’s looking up at you. And I just feel like he needs me so much when I’m feeding him. Like I tell Shane, I know that other people can take care of my little boy, but one of the hardest things for me to do is let go of control. I do it to Shane on a regular basis…I (unconsciously) don’t ask for help on certain things, because I feel like I want to provide for him. I want to make sure he is ok. I want to feel his love and need for me. It’s a little selfish, but I am his mommy – and I was always told that Mom knows best!

(I'm still not loving tummy time and sometimes I just fall asleep!)

Another thing to note about this past month is Isaiah’s gas. Yes, normally having gas is somewhat of a laughing matter at our house, but not when it’s as painful as our little boy’s! It breaks my heart when he’s got such an upset stomach and this is usually daily. We think that his special formula is the cause of this. We’ve been using Gripe Water lately and it seems to help. But when we hear his painful shrieks, it’s about the saddest thing in the world! I hope he continues to feel better and we can stop using the gripe water soon.

(yep, I'm still sporting some of my Christmas outfits...if it fits, I wear it!)

Isaiah started daycare last week. He’s been doing pretty well. His very first comment from Lori was “He’s a good eater”. Ha! We know that one! He takes a bottle like a champ! And since we’ve had to put him on his formula he’s not a picky eater at all! Everyday we also have to crush up a pill (actually it’s a pill and a half that we have to cut in half and crush…annoying that they don’t make a thyroid medicine in a liquid form for a baby…oh well), put it in water and give it to him through a medicine dropper. He usually takes this a little warm, because the pill will dissolve faster in warm water. His bottles are usually luke warm/room temperature. And then he takes his gripe water cold from the fridge. What a laid back little boy!

(Mommy thinks I look cute in my Old Navy hat!)

We also continue to think that he’s looking more like Shane than me, but I honestly cannot tell who he looks like. We compared baby pictures and he definitely looks more like Shane’s baby pictures. That’s ok, he can be handsome like his daddy!

unforgettable friends...

I have some GREAT friends. Seriously...I have better friends than what I deserve. Most of the time I feel like I'm not as good of a friend back to most of the people that are so good to me.

This week was my first week back to work.

And wouldn't you know my closest friends all made sure to contact me to make sure I was making it! (I guess people had the impression I was a little unstable and emotional this week!) Text messages, emails, phone calls...all so sweet!

And my mother-in-law came to spend this week with Isaiah, so I could ease back into work and being away from my little boy.

And my old boss threw Isaiah and I an amazing baby shower this week!

And my husband really stepped it up helping with the middle of the night feeding, getting Isaiah ready in the morning, etc.

And I could just keep listing all the nice things people have done!

It's been a great week.

So a BIG shout out to those who have blessed me so generously, so I can be a good mommy to this little smiling boy!

thank you....ThAnK yOu....THANK YOU! You all mean so much!

DNA test

We finally received the DNA test back on Isaiah’s PKU!

Although we haven’t had an opportunity to sit down with the doctors yet to fully explain the DNA test, what we do know is that one of the mutations is a classical gene mutation for PKU and the other gene mutation can be associated with a milder form of PKU.

I’m not exactly sure if this means that he will be categorized into the “classical PKU” category or if there is still a chance that he will have a more mild case. I believe we might even have to wait until he starts on solid foods to know. I’m hoping that since he has been doing well on taking more breast milk than formula this might mean his case is milder. When we asked at our last appointment our dietician suspected that he MIGHT have a more mild case, because a lot of times the formula/breast milk ratio is 50/50 and Isaiah is probably around 30/70. I guess time will tell!

Other than that, he is doing great! He’s really starting to smile and coo a lot! He loves to be talked to and definitely knows who mommy and daddy are. He’s sleeping really well at night too. He usually takes his last feeding at about 9:30-10, before we go to bed. He will wake up once in the middle of the night to eat, goes right back to sleep and then sleeps until 6:00ish. Yea! He’s a very good baby and we love him to pieces!